The Dentist

I finally took these little munchkins to have their teeth cleaned back in April, something that's been on my to-do list for a good two years now. Sadly, this was Parker's first (non-emergency) dental appointment!

Having worked for a few years in dentistry, I definitely know better than to neglect their bi-annual oral hygiene appointments!

Trust me when I say that I'm so ashamed of myself. :(

The good news?

See those pearly whites of his?

He gets to keep them! If you remember back to his little accident HERE a few months back, he had fractured his front tooth and there was a good possibility of having his two front teeth pulled. But new x-rays revealed that the fracture is healing without indication of infection.

So our cute little guy gets to keep his teeth! 

For now anyways. :) 

Funny that my kids are so well-behaved and compliant in places like the dentist - a place that typically you expect that your child might have a major meltdown... like the little girl in the chair next to them.

Not these two.

 You would have thought P and E were at a Four Season Resort Spa. They just laid there, didn't make a single peep for their entire appointments, completely cooperative - with zero bribes for incentives to behave. Amazing!

Take them to the grocery store on the other hand and it's a complete fiasco.

I don't get it.

The sad news was, that despite my flossing efforts, Mr. Dimple Cheeks candy-addict has two small cavities.

This little guy is going to cost us a lot of money, I just know it.

Not to vent, BUT (okay, to vent!)....

The ER bill from hitting his mouth 6 weeks prior was $750 out of pocket (RIDICULOUS! If I had known, I might have stitched it myself! :),

& in case you were wondering, just his life flight bill from last fall was $16,000. That's right. THREE zeros. & I won't bother to tally up for you his time in the ER in St. G, his two ambulance rides and 5 days up at Primary Childrens...

 Don't get me wrong, it was the best chunk-a-money we've ever spent... to preserve the health of our precious P-Man. For sure!

 But my point?

If we contine in this pattern, Chris will be taking on a second job, I'll have to scrounge up some talent to sell homemade goods on ebay (which would be kinda fun - if I had talent)....& we might be moving back to AZ for a cheaper mortgage...(which wouldn't be so bad...bye bye snow, hello swimming pool!:).

Let's just say that it's probably good that we're having another girl.... :)

 Did I really just divulge all that over two little cavities?

I must be prego or something.:)

Moving on to patient #2:

This little girl thank goodness had no bugs (aka cavities at our house), and enjoyed her dental experience so much that she asks to go back on a weekly basis.

Can we blame her?

Kicking back and watching a little Dora the Explorer on a ceiling-mounted television, in an oh-so-comfy chair while getting a pedicure was not so bad.

Not so bad at all. :)

Okay so there was no pedicure.

It's a........

GIRL!

YAY!

I really felt like it was a girl from early on, and I'm glad to see that my feelings were right. I always second guess myself.

I really would have been thrilled with either one, but I have to say that I am sooo happy that Emmie will be getting a sister, one close in age too - something that growing up I desperately felt I was missing out on!

At the same time I am a little sad for P that he isn't getting a brother...

We took the kids to the ultrasound with us, and he was a little disappointed at first, but it didn't last long.

Tonight he said out of the blue,

"Mom, it's a good thing that we're not having a brother!"

Surprised, I asked him why so, and his response was, 

"Because boys are REALLY stinky!".

I love that kid.

And I honestly don't know where he got that line from because believe it or not Chris isn't all that smelly of a guy, so he didn't hear it from me. He doesn't even use deoderant half the time because he really doesn't get BO - no joke! What can I say except that P is just a smart guy as this does reign true with most boys...

Emmie's really excited for a sis and practiced putting her "babies" to sleep all afternoon and changing their diapers. She kept calling to Parker,

 "Honey, will you get the wipes please? The baby is poopy!".

LOVED that she was calling him "Honey". :)

She also informed me that she would like to name the baby Amy (they have a babysitter named Aimee).

Amy and Emmie --- sounds cute but that might get a bit confusing....:)

Big News on June 1st

(Zions Nat'l Park)
Despite the icky, wet weather that May has offered us, we've been too busy around here having 
FUN
(as you can see)
& blogging has taken a bit of back seat as of late.
But I am determined to catch up soon!
Lucky you. ;)
The exciting news of this week however will be that we are having my 20 week ULTRASOUND on Wednesday to find out if this baby is a boy or girl!
We really don't have a preference on the gender....We're just excited to welcome whoever is supposed to be next in our family.. and I can't wait to reuse the thousands of bins of clothes that I've been saving of Parker or Emmie's. I'm outta room!
This will likely be our last baby (mostly so says Chris - but he doesn't use the word "likely" he just uses "IS"...), so I'll also be happy to start purging the opposite gender's piles of clothes that have been storing up these last few years...
& I'll really be happy for this baby to have an identity of "he" or "she" rather than "the baby" and "IT".
Who wants to be called "It" anyways?
Any guesses on what we're having??? :)

Best day for a best friend

Do you know how every once in a while, you are just blessed to have an amazing day, one that you have been waiting for? And do you know how there are some people who you just know were simply destined to be a part of your life? Well, combine those two elements, and they make for one incredible day! 

On May 6th, my beautiful, long-time friend and one of my favorite people of all time got married in the Salt Lake Temple. It was an awesome day to say the least and I am so happy for she and her new husband! He is one lucky guy!

The Happy Couple

 Lacey and Dallas

Lacey and I met back in 8th grade (um, that's 18 years ago :/)and quickly became best friends after she passed me a note during class one day. I practically lived at her house during High School and couldn't have had a better example by my side during those crazy and impressionable years. She and her awesome fam made a huge impact for good on my life and I give them much credit for the good decisions I made early on that have kept me on the path I am still on today.

Lace and her cute sis Brookie were my adopted sisters since I didn't have one of my own. :)

I adore these girls!

I spent over an hour last night trying to find some of our (sweet) high school pictures but with no luck. I pretty much found every picture I've ever taken but the ones I wanted. Apparently I'm not that organized.

But I do have a few that were already scanned into my computer...:

Here Lacey and I are in our limo on the way to prom - with our dates of course. Lacey and I fell in love with the same dress, (I know not a great pic of them) so we showed up (yes, on purpose) to our senior prom in identical dresses, just different colors. We thought we were pretty awesome but I don't think anyone even noticed that we had the same dress on.  

On a side note, my date (yes, also my high school boyfriend) is to the left (your left) and is a lot nicer -and cuter- than this picture presents.... and not to be prideful but isn't my hair awesome? :) I loved it.

L to R: Cami, me, Tammy, Amanda, Lacey, Jill & Megan

Here we are with some of our closest friends from back in the day. Believe it or not, we all still see each other regularly. Except for Megan that is... where are you, Megan?!

This (above) is the night of our senior yearbook signing - 13 years ago! 

Yep - 13 years.

I cringe at that number.

But we still look the same, right?....

Amanda, Lacey, Jill and I at the reception.

I love these girls!!

YAY for Lacey & Dallas!

... &CHEERS to girlfriends, and lifelong ones at that!(we missed you Cami and Tammy!:)



Special Easter Treats Take II

*FYI*I actually posted this last week, but happened to do so just in the time frame that Blogger had a major malfunction (sounds like my luck) and all posts and comments made during that time were erased from thousands of blogs, mine being one of them. So for those who left a comment on the original post - I didn't go through and delete your comments, my original post was just never restored! So here I go again!

Although I usually prefer baskets full of candy and some hard boiled eggs on Easter morning, the Easter Bunny decided to generously bless me with an extra nasty bout of morning sickness this year

(albeit my 15 weeks at the time). 

Not to complain - such is life these days & it's not a huge deal - it just makes for getting much of anything done near impossible.;)

So since I spent much of the morning with my head in the toilet, getting ready for Stake Conference on time at all was out of the question, not to mention getting the kiddos ready. So Chris went himself and by 12:30 or so I managed to have the family ready for the holiday.

That sounds about right these days.

But not without a few quick festivities first....

(I know - messed up priorities on Easter but at least we could do these in our pj's & with vomit breath:)

Parker and Emmie were thrilled to find new bikes amidst their Easter surprises.

 I know, I know. Bikes are usually Santa's gig, but let's be real. How fun is it to get bikes for Christmas, in the middle of the winter in Utah, only to have them sit in the garage for 5-6 months until the sun decides to show it's shining face (which in May we are still waiting to see btw..)?

Not so awesome.

So bikes it was for Easter this year. 

I think the kids were more excited for the chocolate in their plastic eggs though.

Go figure.

The kiddos finally in their polished attire for the day.

They of course didn't have picture perfect smiles for the camera, but were pretty good at offering some unsolicited silly faces.

Next it was off to my cute Grandma, Mimi's house for the afternoon. She is always a great party hostess and her annual egg hunt that she's put on for the last 30+ years did not disappoint. Parker not only came out with 2 Easter baskets full of fun treats via my Grandma and my Dad (as did Emmie), but made $11 on the egg hunt!

Not bad for a four-year-old!

I went a little crazy taking pictures of my brother Steve and his wife Kylie, but it was just to make up for the fact that they were just weeks away from leaving to live back in New Jersey for the summer where Steve(n) will be doing an internship with the NJ Nets! Last year it was New York and Times Square, and now this!

What fun for them!

Next we were off to the Hansens for yet another 

egg hunt, a delicious turkey dinner, fun fun fun with the aunts and uncles and lots of swinging!

My kids would swing all day if they could!

It was a fun, BUSY day!

I'm tired just thinking about it.

I think that next year I am requesting that the E-Bunny visit us on Saturday.

Sundays shouldn't be that crazy!:)

Just like mommy

Last week this little cutie went running past Parker and I, headed to the bathroom, shrieking,

"Frow up! Watch out guys! I'm gonna frow up!".

We followed her to the toilet, which she proceeded to spit into numerous times. After her dramatic display, she wearily patted her tummy and announced,
"Oh, I so sick. My baby is sick."
She talks about the baby in her tummy often.

I guess watching me in action this last four months has rubbed off on her.
When they say that kids model behavior, they're not kidding!
YIKES!
p.s. Thanks Aunt B for the darling dress! :) 

Time to spill the beans

I've definitely had an aversion to blogging this last few months.

In fact, I've had an aversion to a lot of things lately.

But not without good reason....

My body has been hard at work!

That's right!

Baby #3 is on it's way & we are thrilled to add another little person to our family!

I am just 14 weeks along but it's been a LONG 3 1/2 months!

Due to crazy and ridiculous lovely, debilitating bouts of nausea, I have found myself sprinting to the bathroom at 3 a.m. way too many times (I think this baby thinks it's a funny joke), the mountains of laundry have been building up, keeping up on housework has been almost a joke, 8 p.m. bedtime for me has been a necessity, and I think we've had carry out pizza at least 4 or 5 times since January (that's alot for us!).

 Zofran, Ginger Ale and Saltines have been my best friends and I have become way more aquainted with the toilet and bathroom floor than I ever thought I would...(just in case you wondered;)

But such is life when your body is busy making a human being!

We feel blessed and can't wait to meet this new little person in October!

Buddies

Emmie calls Parker, "Buddy".

I know what you're thinking.

How cute for her to describe her brother that way! 

Well, I think so too. 

But to Emmie, Parker is not only her buddy as in her pal.

He IS Buddy. 

It's rare that she ever calls him by his actual name. 

Instead, it's "BUDDY", (with extra emphasis on the "D") or with added affection she'll call him "My Buddy".

(She calls the dog, "MY Roxy").

If he gets in trouble, she'll say (okay, so it might be yell) -

"HEY! You leave my Buddy alone!", or, "You be nice to my Buddy!".

I know I shouldn't like being bossed around by a two-year-old, but in these instances when she is sticking up for her brother,

 I think it's pretty darn cute.

If he's hurt or sad, she'll rub his back and say, "What's wrong, Buddy?", & "It'll be okay, Buddy".

& buddies they are.

Don't let me paint the wrong picture here. They definitely have their moments of antagonizing drama, incessant teasing that makes me want to pull my hair out, & screaming fits of rage at one another that sometimes ends with battle wounds.

 But overall they love each other's company and love to play together.

Their sporadic manifestations of "I love you, Emmie" and "I love you Buddy" are often and don't come only after they've served in time out.

 They are a team and I'm so thankful they have each other.

Isn't it great to have a sibling, aka "Buddy"?

Taboo body talk

The following is not for the easily offended...;)

The other day Parker pulled up his shirt, pointed to his chest and said,

"Mom, what are these?".

Me: "Um, those are your nipples".  

Parker: "Nipples? Oh. We'll have to tell Daddy". 

Me: "Why?"

Parker: "Because the other day when I asked him what they are, he wouldn't answer me. So he must not know!"

Oh, I'm pretty sure he's aware...

Me: "Uh, yep, we'll have to tell him".

*****

On Sunday I was steaming my shirt while standing in my bra and undergarment when to my surprise two little hands reached up and planted themselves on my, ahem, chesticles.

Taken off guard I glanced down to meet his little eyes and he softly said, 

"Mom, can I touch these?"

Wu huh?

I just kind of shrugged him off while but couldn't help being humored by the action.

About a half hour later we were at church standing in the hall for a minute when all of a sudden those two little hands reached up and planted themselves in those same lovely places. In horror I quickly swatted his hands away. I also quickly assessed that there might be only one witness to the crime - one of my cute Beehives. Phew.

That moment could have been much, much worse....

I don't know what to say except that apparently the baffling magnetic force to those things starts at a young, young age for the  male species....heaven help us.

*****

When getting ready for baths one night, Parker made a breakthrough observation.

 "Hey Mom, the reason Emmie doesn't stand up to pee is because she hasn't grown this (pats his private area) yet".

Uh no, and I'm happy to report she won't be growing one of those. Ever.

So while P-Man aced preschool anatomy, there are still a few body parts left that he can't set a name to due to the fact that we've never divulged their identities.  

That being one of them.

And ya know what?

Gasp in horror, call me a bad parent and turn me in, but I'm just fine with keeping it that way for the next 7 years or so....

The teenage years are going to be rough at our house.

Can't we just keep them little and innocent forever?

Rag-a-who?

Emmie changes her wardrobe numerous times a day.

 It's fantastic.

The other day she wandered down from her nap in this happenin' getup....

Niiiiice, ay?

Lovin' the mismatched socks.

The floral skirt with striped sweater.

The necklace.

The Minnie purse.

& don't forget the rockin' hair....

accompanied of course by an entrourage of her biggest fans.

Basically, the girl quadruples her share of laundry each day.

& she loves it.

Me? I hate laundry.

But really, how can I be mad at that cheesy little grin?

I guess it's not hard to tell who rules the roost around here.;) 

A welcomed guest

We had an old friend visit today.

Have you met Sunshine?

Oh, how we've missed her.

& oh how we enjoyed her presence in our backyard today.

Have you tried her Vitamin D lately?

It's truly revitalizing.

 We are thrilled to hear that she will be spending the next few days with us.

SATURDAY, she's even gifting us 72 degrees.

72!

Bless her.

We'll miss her on Sunday and the 30 degrees she takes with her, but for now, we are cherishing every moment we have together.

Bored confessions

Lately hasn't been all that exciting... The Bachelor ended last week, my kiddos are sick so we've been pretty home bound, there hasn't been that much excitement to speak of. Okay so we did get a Dyson vacuum a week or two ago which is super exciting in my book - that thing is amazing! Beyond that, we just haven't been all that eventful around here. To me --a good thing! I prefer quiet days at home (okay - "quiet" doesn't quite exist with a 2 and 4 year old but you catch my drift) where I can enjoy my kids over a crazy, built-up, hectic schedule (& running to the ER) so I am in no way complaining. Trust me. But I am in a bit of a blogging schlump. I just can't get into it lately. So disappointing, I know. So, as I should be journaling stories about my oh so cute kids, I am going to instead dare be even more self indulgent & confess a few things you might not know about myself. Things that  really aren't that interesting, but are a big part of who I am.  Great, right?!

Here we go with a few confessions...
Hopefully I still have friends after this post...

1) I have an extreme love for space heaters. I have one on all three floors of my home, and if I'm sitting down (or doing hair and makeup in the bathroom), it is right there beside me, blowing it's warm air of comfort on me. You misunderstand if you believe that it's there only to combat these cold UT winter months, or that my house must simply be freezing. Growing up a teenager with a basement bedroom that bordered on frigid, my need for them did start out that way. But over the years, my space heaters have become an all-weather obsession for me. You see, even during my summers of Arizona living I had it right there blasting it's goodness upon  me.  I have no shame. If you've ever worked with me, you know I even bring one to the office. Really. I can't concentrate on the TV, reading, or playing with my kiddos on the floor until I have my adored SH by my side.  Yes, Chris thinks I'm a total nut but has learned to love me despite my addiction. If my house ever burns down, you won't have to wonder why.
Oddly enough, I hate being hot....

2) I LOVE straws. Almost as much as I love my heaters. I am never without one in my drink if I can help it.

3) I haven't eaten red meat since I was 14. (If you are counting that's 17 years!) Except for once when Chris and I were first married. We were invited  to one of Chris' old mission companion's homes for dinner and beforehand we forgot to politely warn them that I don't eat red meat so as not to offend them.
I had anxiety the whole ride there thinking of the possibility of what might be served.
So of course what did they have?
RED MEAT.  With ONIONS. (One of my other nemesis.) 
The combination makes me shudder. The first part of the evening went fine, they were a very nice couple, and we had fun socializing. But the mystery dish cooking in the oven had me quite nervous. And rightfully so.
Upon entering the kitchen from a quick bathroom trip, I fought back tears of horror as I saw that they they had lumped a whole pile of a ground beef mixture  sandwiched between french bread onto my plate.
And of course, the portion was enormous.
Apparently they forgot that I'm 5'1 and under 100 lbs and therefore probably don't chow down like my husband who is twice my weight and a foot taller.
 Normally in that situation, I would decline the meat and happily just eat a side.
(I would happily starve for a few hours too - trust me.)

But there was no side to be had, and the slop (which I'm sure was delicious slop to those who like that sort of thing) was already on my plate.

So what could  I do but choke it down.

Literally.
Agghh.

Let's just say it was not a good night for me.

I cried on way home.

& I'm sure I brushed & meticulously cleansed my teeth and tongue well into the night once we got back to our apartment. I may have tried to gag myself too but throwing up on demand has never worked for me...

Needless to say, eating at other people's homes can be an anxiety-ridden event for me.
For the record, I never would expect anyone to arrange a menu around my tastes - I prefer just to pick around what is edible to me from what is being served. If that means I'm eating a roll for dinner, no problem. I'll just have a bowl of cereal when I get home, thank you. It's just a little taboo because if people don't know me they can get offended, which I would never want. But it happens.

4) I do eat chicken.  (not fast food "chicken")
However, every little string and piece of fat has to be cut off if I am to ingest without gagging. Dealing with raw meat (aka cutting off all the gunk) is one of my least favorite things to do. I cover my cutting board with multiple layers of protection (plastic bags and wax paper) for the task and basically gag for the entire process. Afterwards every tool used is thoroughly sprayed with Clorox. I do like to cook but the meat part is stressful for me. Let's just say that I'd much rather sit and pluck my leg hairs than deal with that slimy, salmonella-ridden raw stuff...yeck.

5) I LOVE cookies. I love to bake them, eat them, think about them...I would make them daily if it weren't for knowing that I'd gain an instant 5 pounds due to lack of self control. I can pass up cake, pie and ice cream any day, no problem. To me those are wasted calories. (I do like a good apple pie in the Fall or white cake and white frosting on an occasional b-day.) But cookies, they entice me. No nuts or raisins in mine though please.

6) I love mascara. I don't go without it. Ever. (Well, except to bed.) It makes me feel like I can face the world. Literally. I am baffled by women who don't take advantage of this magical, beautifying gift of a tool. Don't they know what it can do for them?
It makes me happy.

7) I don't own an Ipod or MP3 player. In fact, I wouldn't know how to work one if you handed me one. No, I am not a complete idiot or technologically challenged. I've just never had the pocket change to go out and purchase one and it's never been a priority on my Christmas list. One of my goals this year is to enlighten myself to the world of Ipods and Itunes.
A world my husband is well familiar with.
Along with the rest of the world.
Including my parents.
But me?
Forget about it.
So behind the times, I know.
What can I say, I'm a busy mom... a daily shower and mascara are my priorities for myself and beyond those (okay and DVRing the Bachelor and AI make the list too)...let's just say I don't have much interest in spending much time at Best Buy, I run on the treadmill and watch the Today Show while I do it,  and CDs work just fine for me.
 For now. :)

***

Hmmm. I think those might be enough self-confessions for the day. I better stop there before I reveal anything really embarrassing.;)
Like I said, I hope we're still friends... :)

One little monkey = several trips to the ER and the dentist

On Monday afternoon this cute little guy came downstairs with tears in his eyes and a mouth dripping of blood.

"Mom", he whimpered. "I was doing some "exercises" in my room, and....."

....and long story short he knocked his face on the wood frame of his bed that the mattress sits on....

Oh no. Not again. My heart skipped a beat when I opened his mouth & amidst the blood saw a big chunk of his gum hanging vertically down over his big front tooth. After further frantic assessment (and thanking our lucky stars that it wasn't his previously broken eye socket that had been hit as another blow there at this point could result in brain surgery) I ran to get my phone. After consulting with Chris, Parker's pediatrician, and a nearby pediatric dentist, we were off to the ER. Of course, there was a big snow storm coming and Chris had made the rare decision to take my car to work since I thought I wouldn't be needing it the rest of the day. That left me with Chris' 2-door car and an interesting arrangement  of carseats, since their normal chairs were in my car 25 miles away in a pharmacy parking lot. (Why is it that emergencies happen at the most inconvenient times possible? I mean, normally, my car is sitting the garage, armed with car seats and ready to go. But of course not when I needed it most.) Thankfully I managed to stuff Emmie in her baby car seat and luckily we recently got an extra booster seat for Parker to make preschool carpooling easier or I would have been calling neighbors amidst the chaos to borrow a seat.

(This pic is post the stitch and is looking great compared to how it was a few hours earlier. The white/bluish chunk of gum tissue had been hanging vertically down the front of his tooth.)

Off to the ER we went, where they basically tied Parker up in a straight jacket to prohibit movement on his part. He calmly laid there, wrapped up like a "burrito" as they called him (he smiled proudly at the description), while they stitched his gum back up into place. They decided against numbing him and much to the amazement of the male nurse and doctor, he didn't make a single peep the entire process. No whimpers of pain, no flinches, no tears. We explained that he's a bit of a pro when it comes to the hospital scene. He was definitely braver than I would have been!

The next morning the stitch fell out, and we were back at the ER (at their request) to have it looked at again. It was too late to refix it successfully, so he ended up losing that chunk of hanging gum tissue. :(

His tooth didn't seem loose so they didn't think a dentist was necessary, but having worked for a dentist I knew he needed to be seen. (Hello?!) And THANK GOODNESS he was! Besides very traumatized tissue (above what you can see in the pic) the x-ray revealed a FRACTURE in the upper hidden part of the tooth! AGHH! I knew it wasn't going to be good. The hopeful news is that there is no visible separation at this time in the fracture, and sometimes the bone will heal itself back together. Sometimes. If not, an infection will occur and this will indicate that the tooth has to be pulled.  Ugggh. Oh and wait. Not just one tooth - it would be his TWO front teeth! If they pull one tooth, they have to pull the one next to it as to not cause problems for the big teeth that will eventually move in. The doc said that there is about a 40% chance that this will have to happen & we'll know in about a month. I asked when those two teeth normally would fall out and the answer was 7 1/2 to 8 years old. Not to be vain, but my poor cute little guy might have a big gaping hole in his smile for up to FOUR years!? :( I know, I know - it's cosmetic right? But come on, more than that it could cause potential speech problems, self esteem issues, eating issues...the list goes on.

Lively little Parker, jumpin' on the bed
He fell off and bumped his head
Mama called the doctor and the doctor said...
"NO MORE MONKEYS JUMPIN' ON THE BED!".

That last part was an actual quote from the dentist, finger wagging included.
We'll see if it gets through to our little guy.
I can't tell you how many times I have told him not to do his "exercises".
(this entails jumping back and forth from his little foam Pottery Barn chair to his bed, mixed I am sure with some pretty awesome "tricks"...)
I was tempted to ask the ER doc where I could purchase one of those straight jacket things...my little "burrito" did seem to like it... ;)

We'll find out in the next few weeks whether or not we'll be mourning his teeth... meanwhile I am just trying to enjoy his precious, non-hillbilly smile while I can! :)

Lumped again

 February was once again a month of celebrations.

And once again I am lumping them altogether....

How fun for you who happens to be reading this oh-so-exciting blog.

 The month started out with Chris' brother, Dustin's birthday.

It was #28 for him & guess what? 
He's single!

Last I heard anyways.

Find me in the comment section if you know of a super cute friend of a friend you want to set him up with.

I love to set people up. :)

It's a bit of a disorder.

Last person I set up happened to be my sis in law, who happened to marry the guy I lined her up with.

Shabam.

Not to be cocky or anything. ;)

(& not that I usually go around saying words like "Shabam"...seriously. I'm really tired.)

& can I just say thank goodness for disorders that result in love connections?

Next up we got together with my Dad's side of the fam and celebrated my cute Grandma, my Aunt, and my sister-in-law Kylie's birthdays.

If ya know of any super cute Grandpa's ages 85+ to line my Grandma aka Mimi up with, let me know.
Just kiddin'.

We also celebrated Valentines Day at this shindig seeing as it was Feb. 13th. It felt more like Dec. 25 with all the presents filling the room and all the loot my kiddos walked away with. Good times. :)

Thanks Mimi and Grandpa Todd!

 On Valentines Day we took the kiddos bowling for the first time. I was a pretty good bowler once upon a time (in my good old days of high school white trash bowling), but I think that P and E came out with better scores than me that night.

 Above Emmie is celebrating a strike (adorned btw with a cute V-Day necklace Parker made her at school). I'll blame my loss of concentration on my constant efforts of trying to keep my crazy kiddos from being slammed in the noggin' with  neighboring bowling balls. We've had our fair share of head injuries in this last year, thanks. Keeping them out of harms way was a full time job and required constant restraint for the 2 1/2 year old. It was fun & I'm glad we did it, but let's say we won't be joining any family bowling leagues in the near future.

Next up was my FIL Lance's birthday. Yes, that makes birthday #5 for the month, and actually make that #6, as Chris' brother Eric and his wife had baby boy #2 on the 10th. Unfortunately we couldn't do much celebrating with them as they live in Texas, but we are very happy for a new cousin!

Back to Lance's party -- I was loving the exchange between Emmie and her Great-Grandpa Lonczyna. I cherish those types of moments knowing that this cute man (in his 90's)  may not be around for Emmie to remember down the line.

I'm so thankful for cameras so that moments like these can be recorded forever.

As the month continued, we took advantage of our new Thanksgiving Point Season Pass that Chris got our fam for Christmas, and visited the Dinosaur Museum. These two love dinosaurs - even Emmie. She is always prancing around on her tip toes, arms in attack position and growling, "RAAAAAR! I'm a T-Rex."

I'm really glad these things are extinct.

& don't worry, I cut my hair this week.

 In more exciting news, we purchased  a much needed new couch that the kiddos are sitting on in this pic. I really kinda love it.

Just for the heck of it I let Parker practice his camera taking skills after church on Sunday. Blurry is sometimes better and the ruffled hair and bunched up shirt under my cardigan are reminiscent of my crazy once-a-month Sundays that Chris has to work wherein I brave church by myself with my oh-so-reverent kiddos (that was laced with sarcasm.). But nonetheless I am triumphant in this picture as we survived our Sunday. Let's just say a good nap on those days is more than well-deserved.

And... onto the last day of the month! The Bachelor!

(This is the part to sign out on if you aren't a dedicated Monday night fan) 

I was really glad that whiney Ashley left. She definitely shot herself in the foot after not being able to talk about her thoughts on the future even after repeated chances by Brad to redeem herself. For such an educated person she really stinks at communicating! & I was confused at why Brad kept saying that he really wanted it to work with her...seriously? Call me crazy but I think those words might come back to haunt him with whoever he up choosing in the end...

Chantal....so I would have FREAKED if I were her and had to spend the night in a treehouse in the middle of the jungle in South Africa! Are you kidding - lions are not our friends, and they are especially not desirable bunkmates. I can't believe they did that! I hyperventilate at the thought of sleeping in a tent in Utah mountains at Girls Camp. But a South African jungle?! Heh UHH!

 I think it's all about Emily at this point....she is my final prediction. Although I do think the idea of her having a child freaks Brad out and rightfully so.

Who knows.

Maybe he'll walk away again.

I won't hate him for it if he does.

Such drama and seriously such a stupid show that I'm addicted to! But I love it! & I hear that next week's "The Women Tell All" is quite the shocker, especially with Michelle...

Happy March! :)